Towanoquon Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Towanoquon Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

X-Kids.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 28, 2012

Arthur C. Clarke’s groundbreaking 1953 science fiction masterpiece Childhood’s End had one of the coolest “twists” in fantasy literature, when partway through the novel Clarke revealed that an alien species which had invaded Earth bore an uncanny resemblance to age old human depictions of Satan. Clarke worked his usual literary magic in this sequence, positing a sort of “future memory” for Mankind, whereby their subliminal “knowledge” of the coming alien invasion had colored their collective subconscious for untold millennia, leading to the traditional depictions of demons. If it can be at least argued that science fiction is perhaps a portal into Man’s deepest dreams and fears, what does the glut of books, movies, animes and other projects that offer children mutating into superpowered beings really say about us as a species? There’s little doubt that those of us who grew up in a pre-internet and pre-computer age can stare in disbelief at our own kids’ seeming genetic ability to instantly understand how to operate devices or wend their way through the world wide web with ease. But is there something more evolutionary, which is not necessarily to say sinister, going on? Are we perhaps in an era of evolution that we don’t really understand logically, but which is happening at the molecular level and is being “reported” vis a vis any number of science fiction outings, from Village of the Damned to X-Men to the anime film series under review here, Towa no Quon? (Interestingly, Clarke himself in Childhood’s End posited the quick evolution of a generation of children born after the aliens’ arrival, and he of course did much the same thing, albeit more discursively, in his epochal 2001: A Space Odyssey.)

Of all the outings that feature humans mutating into other forms, or at least gaining some kind of superpowers, Towa no Quon probably most resembles X-Men, for a variety of reasons. First of all, the six part series features a group of mutants who are transforming from their human forms into something else, and they have banded together for their own protection and to create their own community. Perhaps more relevantly, Towa no Quon, much like X- Men, features a quasi-Fascistic government which is out to do the mutants in. The opening sequence of Towa no Quon’s first episode in fact sets up this conflict in a fairly visceral fashion, as one newly transforming kid finds himself surrounded by a coterie of soldiers that seem to be a kind of Black Ops group, operated remotely by a bunch of government scientist-bureaucrats who evidently want the mutants rounded up or perhaps even killed.

Towa no Quon was released as a series of six (kind of short) films and is released here on two Blu-ray discs. The first couple of films (each of which runs between 50 – 60 minutes) introduce a rather wide array of characters, including the hero Quon, who might be thought of as a young version of Professor Xavier in X-Men, in that he is the guiding mentor of the group of mutants and one who is intent on protecting them. The mutants here are called “attractors”, and the first episode also identifies two kids who have either just figured out they are a mutant, or who have yet to quite divine that fact, but are helped to that understanding by Quon and his group of superpowered comrades.

One kind of interesting aspect to this, and one which sets it at least a little apart from X-Men, is just how drastically some of the attractors morph into other shapes and forms. While X-Men does have a number of characters that look decidedly different from their “human” forms, Towa no Quon takes it a step further, with several characters transmogrifying into forms that are not even close to their human forms. In other ways, though, this series is highly redolent of X-Men and other outings that posit a group of strangely powered mutants who are attempting to outwit, outplay and outlast a nefarious governmental agency.

Towa no Quon does ultimately devolve a bit into a pretty traditional “us versus them” set of plot machinations that sees Quon and the other attractors battling a variety of bad guys, with a major showdown of course becoming a major part of the sixth episode. On the other hand, there’s a really interesting subplot including a sibling of Quon’s who shows up rather unexpectedly late in the game and whose arrival opens up a whole array of compelling back story information that really helps to flesh out the Quon character, as well as the whole history of the attractor class.

The film series is impeccably well designed and is more than a bit reminiscent of Ghost in the Shell, replete with glowing green cityscapes and high tech governmental operatives “listening in” on virtually every aspect of various citizens’ lives. The animation style here is helped immeasurably by some very nicely done CGI as well as consistent use of multi-plane animation that gives a nicely three dimensional look to a lot of the series.

Towanoquon Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Towa no Quon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a very sharp and appealing looking anime film series that, as mentioned above, bears more than a passing resemblance to at least certain elements of the Ghost in the Shell franchise. Much as with Ghost in the Shell, Towa no Quon features glittering, often green infused, cityscapes, and there's also an emphasis on high tech lab settings, replete with lots of busy screens showing all sorts of various information. Towa no Quon also has a lot of CGI woven into its more traditional cel animation, especially when various attractors morph into different forms, or when, for example, governmental operatives attack with mechas. Colors are nicely saturated and line detail is exceptionally strong throughout the six short films. There's also some unusually excellent character design here, with a lot of attention to detail (as well some occasional quasi-fan service). Backgrounds are quite often in an Impressionistic style, and some of the renderings of cherry trees and blossoms are really exquisitely done.

Towanoquon Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Wow! From literally the first moment of Towa no Quon, the listener is enveloped in a mad panoply of immersive sound effects, courtesy of DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks in either the original Japanese or an English dub. This is one of the most consistently immersive anime tracks in recent memory, with a glut of really well done sound effects populating the surrounds at virtually every moment. Fidelity is also exceptionally strong and there's some extremely boisterous use of LFE in virtually every episode. The English dub features some good voice work, including a couple of younger actors (see information in the Supplements section, below), as well as quite a few FUNimation regulars that fans of that label will no doubt recognize. The Japanese voice work is also excellent.

Towanoquon Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Episode 6 Commentary features several people involved in the English language version of Towa no Quon. Things get started with Steven Foster, ADR Director and script writer, along with Ty Doran (Yuma), the youngest member (at 14 years old) of the cast. Later a number of other voice actors join in, each separately, including Emily Neves (Kiri), David Matranga (Shun Kazami), Andrew Love (Kamishiro), Elizabeth Bunch (Midori Wakatsuki) and Corey Hartzog (Quon). They evidently did their voice work in Tokyo, something that's at least a bit unusual. Several of the actors talk about their approach to their characters as well as what working in Japan was like. This is fairly anecdotal stuff, but it's fun and entertaining.

Towanoquon Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Towa no Quon has a lot to recommend it, but many viewers will probably be saying, "been there, seen that" as the series repeatedly traverses territory already covered in such outings as the X-Men franchise. Sticking with the series to the end does significantly differentiate it from other similar properties, though, and helps to set it apart from other "mutants with superpowers" outings. The series benefits from some really well done animation, including some unusually well crafted characters and appealing CGI. Also helping the series is a really bombastic and involving soundtrack, one which envelops the listener in a swirling maze of well done sound effects. Taken as a whole, while it can't be denied that Towa no Quon is somewhat derivative, it still has enough interesting elements to come Recommended.